Variable electric sign.



H. F. WALTON.

- vAmABLE ELECTRIC slew.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 31, 914.

Patented July 3, 1917.

Wz'znsssels'r H. F WALTON; VARIABLE ELECTRIC $|GN- APPLICATION FlLEDDEC-31,19.

7, 1,23 1 ,821 Patented July 3, 1m

2 SHEETS- WET Zl HERMAN i. WALTON. or

SOUTH BEND. INDIANA.

VARIABLE ELEcT'nIc SIGN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 31, 1914. Serial No. 879.970.

To 0.2. whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, IIERMAN F. 'Ar'rox, a citizen of the Lnitedb'tat-es, residing at South Bend, in the county of St. Joseph and Marcol' lndiana, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement inVariable lrllcct-aiic Signs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of devices adapted tofiashilluminated signs for advertising or display purposes and providesmeans for producing any'desired form oi? display writing on the electricsignhoard.

The object of my invention is to produce a device whereby an electricsignhoard is caused. to show a form display of lights sin'ii'larto aform traced manually upon a specially constructed wiitingboard.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for making said formdisplay permanent as long as desired.

Another object is to provide means for making the form displayinterchangeable by lighting the back ground on the board and leaving theoutline of the form display dark, and by lighting the form display andleaving the back ground dark.

I attain these objects by the construction and devices illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure l on Sheet 1. shows ageneral front view of the electric signboard and a diagrainmaticrepresentation .of the equipment required to produce the variabledisplay signs .upon said signboard.

Fig. 2- 011 Sheet 1 shows a sectional elevation of the parts of theequipment required and a diagrami'natic representation electric displayonthe writing-board.

of the wiring-required for each individual light unit on said signboard.

Fig.3 on Sheet 2 shows a diagram of the circuit required for theoperation of the signboard.

Fig. 4; on Sheet 2 shows a plan view of a part of the writing-hoard uponwhich the form display is outlined ,by manual operation. I

' Fi 5 on Sheet 2 shows an enlarged section of the equipmentchamberillustrated in Fig. 2 and is a section on the line '55' thereof.

Fig. 6 on Sheet 2 shows a sectional view of the instrument used fortracing the form Fig. 7 is an elevation of means for actuating theresetting nu-chanism. being an amplification of Fig. I

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 on Sheet 1, I provide an electric signboard lwith'a plurality of electric lamps- J. closely set near each other tocover the entire face of the signboard An equipment chainher 3 havingprovided therein a plurality of electromagnct coils l each adapted toactuate the armature of a tripping pawl t3. mounted in the bus barsupport T, and which holds in suspension the switch end 5 of a pivotedbar i mount-v laten'i ed July 3, 1917.

ed in the connector support 10, and having provided thereon an extensionear ll which may be acted upon by a suitably formed set bar 12 torestore said pivoted bar 9 in the suspended position. The set bar 12 ismoved downward to act on extension bars 11 by manual or electricalmeans. F or the former a finger key :55 secured to a stem 33 may be usedand for the latter a magnet 36 with a suitable push button and battery,not shown, may be employed. The stem 33 attached to the set bar 12 andmay be guided in the upperwall of the equipment chamber as shown and aspring 3% or equivalent means serves to automatically raise the barafter the cars 11 of all the devices have been pressed down to restorethe members 9 to a raised position. i A bus bar 13, is suitablysupported in the equipment chamber 3 between the busbar support 7 andthe connector supports 10, .upon which the switch end 8 of the pivotedbar 9 makes electric connection when the armature 5 of the trip pingpawl (3 is attracted by the coil -l, to which current is supplied by thecircuit wire ll from the battery 13, when the return circuit wire 10, towhich is attached the tracing instrument 17. becomes a closed circuit,by passing said tracing instrument over the contact'disks 18, which formwith the insulating material 19, the tracing surface on .thewriting-board 20..

Eachof the contact disks 18 has. provided thereon. a stem 21 extendingthrough the writing-board 20 to the interior of the con'ipartment 22upon which said writingboard 20 ismounted, and has attached thereto thecircuit wire 23, which forms the other terminal of the coil 4.

Referring to the circuit diagram shown in Fig. 3' on Sheet 2, it will beseen that'each of the contact disks 18 forming a part, of 110' and thetracing instrument 17 formin contact with the contact disks 18, controsthe lighting circuit of each lamp 2 comprising a positive circuit wire24 connected to a dynamo 25 or other source of current, and a negativeterminal 26 leading therefrom to a switch 27 which is adapted to formelectrical connection with the contact 'button 28 attached to thecircuit wire 29, which is-electrically connected with the bus bar 13, orwith the contact button 30 attached to the circuit wire 31 which iselectrically connected with the'bus bar support 7 to which are pivotallymounted the tripping pawl 6.

When the tracing instrument 17 is traced over the contact disks 18, asis illustrated in Fig. l on Sheet 1, each of the electrical circuitsconnected with said contact disks 18 causes the induction coils forminga part of the circuit, to attract the armature 5 of the tripping pawl 6,which operation releases the switch end 8 of the pivoted bar 9, andcauses same to drop on the bus bar 13.

When the switch 27, attached to the negative terminal 26 is brought intocontact with the contact button 30, current will flow through thecurrent wire 31 to the bus bar support 7, and through the tripping pawls6, which have the remaining pivoted bars 9 suspended thereon, from whichthe current is passed through the return circuit wires 32 to the lampswhich form the back ground, and are thereby lighted leaving the displayoutline dark.

When the switch 27 is then brought into contact with the contact button28, the lamps forming the back ground will have their circuit broken andbecome dark, while those lamps forming the display outline will havetheir circuit closed. through the circuit wire 29 attached to the busbar 13 upon which the switch end 9 of the released pivoted bar 9 rests,and thus become lighted.

The circuits may thus be alternated at will and be the means of causingattraction to the display. The pivoted bars 9 which have been releasedupon the bus bar 13 may be restored into their suspended position on thetripping pawl (S. by moving the set bar 12 down upon the cars 11 on saidpivoted bars 9, after which a new display design may be traced on thewriting-board It will be seen from the general arrangement of theapparatus, that any desired design may be exhibited in either thelighted or darkened display thus producing an unlimited mcans ofexhibition without making any mechanical changes in the equipment.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1, In an electric display sign, means for shown in dark outlines or darkwhen theform is luminous.

2. In an electric display sign, a signboaird consisting of a pluralityof lamps, means comprising a contact surface upon which a display formmay be traced for setting a series of primary circuit controllingdevices,

means for holdin the said devices 1n position without efl'ecting thedisplay lamps said means also adapted to hold a form composed of suchlamps after its appearance on the board, and means for supplyin currentthrough-selected groups of such do the corresponding lamps connectedtherewith.

3. In electric display signs, a contact surface upon which a disp ayform may be traced, a plurality of circuit closing devices actuated bythe operation of tracing a display on the said surface, a sign board,electric circuits connecting the closing devices vices to and the signboard adapted to duplicatethe traced form on the sign board, a source ofcurrent therefor, and a separate switch adapted to control the supply ofcurrent either, to the lamps composing the back ground of the form orthose constituting the form itself thus changing the lamp groups toeither a-positive or negative display as 1 desired. N

4. In an electric sign, means for tracing a display form upon primarycircuit closmg devices each providedwith an electromagnet capable ofactuating an armature adapted to control the individual lamps of a signboard, a source of current, means for placing the lamps into arbitrarygroups, and means for supplying current to the single lamps or a thegroups independently of each other so that the display form is producedon the sign board in-a group of lighted lamps with a plurality ofunlighted lamps forming the back ground, or to light the lamps formingthe back ground group and leave the lamps representing the display formunlighted.

In an electric display sign a plurality of lamps mounted on a signboard,a circuit connecting the lamps to a source of current, an individualreturn wire leading from each lamp to a control switch, an electromagnetadapted to operate the control switch, a primary circuit connecting themagnet to a battery, a writir g board comprising a plurality of contactsformed fiush with the upper surface of the board and corresponding innumber and position to the lamps on the signboard each contact connectedseparately to the battery circuits, a tracing device connected to thebattery circuit and adapted to v close such circuit when tracingadisplay 139- sign board provided with a plurality of eleclighted or formon the writing board, and means for with, a circuit closing deviceadepted to 15 holding an invisible form Without efi'ecting trace adisplay form on the writing board the 1am s said meansalso being adaptedto cooperating with the contacts so' as to close hold a leyed form aslong as desired. said circuits" and cause the interplediate 6, Aneiectric display sign comprising a mechanism tonpfi'oducea, like displayform in tric lamps, a circuit for conveying current to board as desired.said 1am s, a duplicate return circuit, at. In testimony whereof I.hereunto afiix my switch a apted to connect the source of .cursignaturein the presence of two subscribing rent to either circuit, a 'controHingdevice witnesses. 1 4 adapted to connect each lamp to e1ther returncircuit, an electromagnet to operate the Witnesses: same, a. circuitincluding the electromagnet, ANNA Snno,- contacts on a writing boardconnected there- WILLIAM A. Onnnn.

ghted lamps on said, sign 2().

HERMAN F. WALTONQ i

